Godzilla: King Of The Monsters

Godzilla: King Of The Monsters

By A.D. Beal

One common complaint about Godzilla from 2014 was that it featured too little monster fighting and continuously cut away from the times it did occur. It seems as if director Michael Dougherty took those complaints to heart and decided on making that the main focus of this film. Unfortunately, not only does he and co-writer Zach Shields do the opposite of what the original was criticised for, trading in attempts at character development for many monster battles, even those are very messy in terms of execution. All of these aspects combined makes for a massive disappointment.

Set five years after the events of the
previous film, the Russells are a family who have broken apart after
the attack in San Francisco killed their son. The father Mark (Kyle
Chandler) is living in the wilderness studying wolves, while Emma
(Vera Farmiga) has taken custody of their surviving child Madison
(Millie Bobby Brown), and is working with MONARCH, the corporation
from the last film and fellow universe film Kong: Skull Island.
However, a bioterrorist group, lead by Charles Dance, kidnaps the
latter two, as Emma has made a device to help control the monsters,
and it could help their plan in unleashing the “Titans”, as
they’re called, into the world to destroy them. Mark is recruited
by MONARCH into helping track down both the group and the titular
monster to help stop them and another titan called Monster Zero.

As stated before, the monster action
increases in this film, with nearly every scene involving some sort
of battle between the creatures. I think of these scenes in the same
way as a sweet food. It’s delicious, but if you have it too much it
isn’t very good by the end and makes you sick. King Of The
Monsters’ fight scenes are so continuous that they lose their
impact, and aren’t very exciting. There’s only so many times that
Godzilla breathes fire and you can feel very amped. Not only that,
but the way the scenes are presented is messy, for several aspects.
One is the use of speed, the monsters go so fast that DoP’s
Lawrence Sher’s shots become blurry and incomprehensible.
Additionally, nearly every scene is set in a stormy area, usually
rain, and combined with the insanely dark lighting, it becomes
difficult to even see the action. There are still some exciting
moments, particularly with Mothra, who gets to show off her powers in
an incredible way.

As for the human characters, most of
them are one note, with everything from a standard military general
(O’Shea Jackson Jr), a science geek (Thomas Middelditch), a
sarcastic sonographer (Bradley Whitford), and more, staying the same
throughout the entire film. The only character with any real change
is Farmiga, who’s view on monsters is interesting to watch, even if
we don’t get much. The actors aren’t bad here, they just
unfortunately aren’t given much to work with. Which is a shame
given the incredible cast here.

Bear McCreary (God Of War, The Walking
Dead) is composing the score, taking over for Alexandre Desplat from
the previous film. It does not have the operatic, tense form of the
previous film, but it does have its own distinct feel with a fast
feel and great use of classic Godzilla themes. It’s definitely
worth a listen to on its own. The MonsterVerse is currently 3-for-3
in terms of composers. Speaking of the MonsterVerse film connects to
the greater universe with mixed results. Some ways it succeeds, like
an older version of a character from Kong: Skull Island (will not say
who), while others feel forced, mainly the constant references to
Kong. I do also find the way it just shoves the impact of the film’s
events in the credits to be rather uncreative, and the post-credits
scene is one like Aquaman’s that could have been saved for the main
movie.

Godzilla: King Of The Monsters will
likely satisfy those looking for some good summer fun. But it does
feel like a step down from the previous films when it comes to how it
handles the social aspects of monsters in the world (like Godzilla
2014) or balancing characters with exciting action (Kong: Skull
Island). I’ve seen a lot of people say that some people too much
value into the humans, and others feel too much into the monsters.
But I don’t see why we can’t have both. Especially when the
original 1954 Godzilla accomplished it so well.